Prosecutors raided the finance ministry and the headquarters of SK and Lotte groups on Thursday. The country's most powerful companies have been caught up in a snowballing corruption scandal engulfing President Park Geun-Hye.
They have been accused of making huge donations to foundations controlled by Park's secret confidante, Choi Soon-Sil, to win lucrative state licences for duty-free businesses. Prosecutors raided the Seoul headquarters of the two groups and the finance ministry to confiscate documents on the duty-free operations.